by W Winters
“You were never supposed to find out,” he finally speaks, looking away from me and staring straight ahead, failure clearly written in his gaze.
I have to stop and take a drink, calming myself down. I thought letting the words out would feel freeing, but that’s not at all what this feels like. Instead it feels like the unraveling I’ve been terrified of all this time.
“Did you keep it a secret because you wanted to protect me? Or because you wanted me to think you wouldn’t do something like that?”
“Both,” he answers me sincerely, looking me in the eyes.
“Well you protected me, and I love you regardless.”
My chest rises and falls quicker, and I can’t shake this nervousness, not until he asks me with a rawness in his throat, “You know that I love you more than anything. That I would be anyone you need me to be?”
“You don’t need to change who you are, but you need to tell me if that’s why we’re back.”
“It doesn’t have to do with that. Romano’s still here, but not for long.”
“Then why?” I ask him, even though I think I already know. “There was a note?” My assumption brings his icy blue stare to mine.
“From Marcus. He warned me that Carter needed me and that we needed him.” His gaze drops to my belly and he squeezes my hand. “I would never let anything happen to you, Chlo, and I wouldn’t have brought you here if I didn’t think we needed to be.”
“Marcus said we needed Carter?” I clarify, feeling a wave of anxiety run through me.
"If it was only about Carter, we never would have come here. You know it had to be about you.”
His words sink in slowly. Even after so much time, there’s still a mark on my husband, a mark on me in return. “Can you trust Marcus?” I ask him, focusing on the fact that we’re here; we’re safe. And that Bastian will never let anything happen to me or our child.
“No,” he says, and the answer is simple. He leans forward, pulling me into him and giving me a comfort I didn’t realize I needed this badly. “But he was right about Carter and he’s the reason why Romano’s men never came back. I should listen to his warning rather than regret not doing everything I can. If anything ever happened to you, or our little one, I wouldn’t be able to survive, Chlo.”
I have to keep my breath steady; I have to keep telling myself that we’re safe now.
“No one is going to hurt us here. This place is changing. Carter and his brothers are taking it over. We can’t let it stay what it was, Chlo; you know what happened to us, what it was like living here.”
“I know,” I whisper, hearing the pain etched in his words, but also the fight. To fight what’s wrong in the lowest and most depraved ways. To use violence and force in a world that’s nothing but merciless.
“It’s not our fight anymore, but that doesn’t mean we should stand back and do nothing.”
“Leaving this place wasn’t doing nothing,” I tell him and remember the pain, the fear, the courage it took to leave everything behind. But even as they leave my lips, I doubt the truth of the words I’ve spoken, because they were said out of fear.
“I didn’t say that it was. But now, I know we can do more. I can feel it, Chlo. I’m supposed to be here right now.” Taking my hands into his, the rough pads of his thumbs rub soothing circles on the back of my knuckles. Staring deep into his eyes and knowing that I see him for who he is and he sees me just the same, knowing that settles the harsh memories that creep up at the reminder of what used to be.
“I just don’t want you ….” He pauses to lick his lower lip and exhale a heavy breath. “I don’t want you to think I’m…” His words are lost in the air in between us. “That I’m-”
“All you will ever be, Bastian, is mine. You are mine. Just like I’m yours. I made my life knowing that’s who I was, and who I wanted to be.” It takes more than I realized to admit the words out loud. “I don’t want to be anything else and as long as you are mine, that is exactly who you will be to me.” Pulling my right hand from his grasp, I cup the side of his jaw in my palm and feel the rough stubble as my thumb runs along his chin. “You’re okay with being mine still, aren’t you?” I whisper the question. It’s so soft, it’s nearly drowned out by the sounds around us.
“You’re too good for me, Chlo.” His hand covers mine and I can see in the depths of his eyes he doesn’t believe that something so simple is all I need.
“It’s all I’ve ever needed,” I speak without thinking, without processing anything at all. “I wasn’t whole until I had you, and I don’t want to be anything but yours. I don’t care if you believe the truth or not, it’s still true.”
“It’s the truth that worries me.”
“The truth is you’re a good man who does bad, bad things.” As Bastian pulls my hand away from his jaw, I can hear him swallow. I can practically feel it myself—the hard, aching truth that I do think what he does is wrong. And I do. On some level. But there’s so much wrong in this world, I can’t be bothered to let it destroy what I value most of all. “And you’re mine. The only truth I just said that matters at all, is the last one.”
“You still love me?” he asks as if it’s a real question.
Letting a playful smile show, I tease him, staring at his lips as I say, “I love the way you kiss me.” For the first time in so long, my heartbeat slows when I look back up at Bastian; it pitter-patters, it dances, it’s desperately finding a new beat. It’s when his eyes glance at my own lips that I realize it’s been trying to beat in tandem with his.
The kiss he plants on my lips, with his hands barely holding on to mine, is soft and sweet. Everything turns to white noise and I know for a fact, this moment will last forever. To me, to anyone who ever steps foot here. They will feel it. They must. Because the world moves around us differently, refusing to let this moment go on as if it’s meant to blend in, or meant to be forgotten.
My eyes are still closed when he pulls away. With a deep breath in and then out, I finally open them.
“I love falling in love with you,” I whisper and barely notice how the world moves again around us.
I swear a blush colors my husband’s face. It looks good on him; for all his tough exterior, a hint of vulnerability looks damn good.
He reaches up for the beer on the bar, but doesn’t let go of my left hand and I don’t move my right from his lap.
With an asymmetric grin he asks me casually, “You weren’t already in love with me?” He can try to hide it all he wants, but I know there’s a hint of fear beneath his words. How could this man ever think I didn’t love him?
“I’ve loved you every day since that kiss,” I confess to him as he lifts up the beer. When my words hit his ears, he sets the glass back down onto the bar. Staring at it, and listening as I tell him, “I love you every day and in every moment, but falling in love is something you can do over and over again.”
“I want to fall in love with you every chance I get,” he tells me and his voice is deep and rough, laced with a sinful desire and something else. Something pure and good. The need to be loved and to feel worthy of being loved.
Even as I bite down on my bottom lip, I smile genuinely. Snaking my ankle behind his muscular leg, I lean into him and whisper, “Then let’s do it every day.”
He takes a swallow of his beer before kissing me again, teasing me and I love it. He tastes like wheat IPA and something dangerous, something too tempting to ever resist.
I don’t lean back as I catch a glimpse of Carter from the corner of my eye. Sebastian follows my gaze and we both watch him enter a locked door, guarded by two men who open it for him.
“I haven’t said hi to Carter yet,” I admit and wonder what that will be like. He’s changed. We all have.
“That’s his brother Jase,” Bastian corrects me and I huff out a breath. “They did all used to look alike,” I muster up the excuse, but Bastian doesn’t seem to care. He takes my hand and my attention with it.
“Just d
on’t stop loving me.”
“I’ll always love you.” I speak clearly, very aware of the moment and where we are. “But don’t hide anything from me. I can’t live like that again. And I don’t want to keep anything from you like I kept that secret.”
“I have a lot to tell you then.” He exhales the words. “Are you sure you want to know this?” he asks again and I just barely nod, giving him my consent to bring me into this place.
“It’s not an easy story to tell,” he admits to me and I already know he’s telling the truth. This world is cruel and unforgiving, just as lawless as it is tragic.
“I want to know.”
“Then let’s start with Carter’s story. Just promise me you’ll still love me after this?”
“You’re crazy to think I could ever not love you, Bastian. Today, tomorrow, forever.”
I stare into his eyes when I speak to him, making him feel the depths of my conviction. I love this man and all he is. All that matters is that he loves me the same and that we’ll be together.
The End
My next release Hard to Love is coming August 20th and this one is HOT, my HOTTEST BOOK YET! Here’s a little snippet…
“You afraid to see me, Babygirl?” I ask her lowly and that gets her attention. Those beautiful baby blues find mine and for a moment, I feel everything all over again.
The undeniable lust, the tormented love, and finally, the loss. It all echoes in her doe eyes.
“Should I be?” she asks me, her cadence caressing. Her teeth sink into her bottom lip as she holds her breath waiting for my response. That lip I used to nibble as she moaned my name. Lips that used to kiss me and only me.
Prepare yourself for your next addictive romance - pre order Hard to Love today!
Don’t miss out on the Cross brothers and the Merciless world. Here’s to love stories keeping our hearts beating.
Carter’s saga, starting with Merciless, is an intense tale that will stay with me forever. I hope these words stay with you as well.
Jase’s story, A Single Glance, is available now and my most recent and most exciting romantic suspense yet.
If you haven’t read A Kiss to Tell, Chloe and Sebastian’s story from the beginning, I highly recommend you read it now and fall in love with every piece of them.
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Hard to Love
Prepare yourself for your next addictive romance. It’s my hottest and most intense book yet! Pre order Hard to Love today!
Also by Willow Winters
Sinful Obsessions Series:
It’s Our Secret
Possessive
A Kiss to Tell
Start Carter & Aria’s saga with Merciless, today for 99c!
Merciless
Heartless
Breathless
Endless
Jase & Bethany - Irresistible Attraction Trilogy
A Single Glance
A Single Kiss
A Single Touch
Standalone Novels:
Broken
Forget Me Not
Sins and Secrets Duets:
Imperfect (Imperfect Duet book 1)
Unforgiven (Imperfect Duet book 2)
Damaged (Damaged Duet book 1)
Scarred (Damaged Duet book 2)
Willow Winters
Standalone Novels:
Cards of Love: Three of Swords
Second Chance
Knocking Boots
Promise Me
Burned Promises
Forsaken, cowritten with B. B. Hamel
Collections
Don’t Let Go
Deepen The Kiss
Valetti Crime Family Series:
Dirty Dom
His Hostage
Rough Touch
Cuffed Kiss
Bad Boy
Highest Bidder Series,
cowritten with Lauren Landish:
Bought
Sold
Owned
Given
Bad Boy Standalones,
cowritten with Lauren Landish:
Inked
Tempted
Mr. CEO
Happy reading and best wishes,
W Winters xx
About Willow Winters
Thank you so much for reading my romances. I’m just a stay at home mom and avid reader turned author and I couldn’t be happier.
I hope you love my books as much as I do!
More by Willow Winters
www.willowwinterswrites.com/books/
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